hunting

What a whirlwind this week has been. Last Wednesday started out with a perfect trip to the beach after I picked the kids up from school. The beach was practically empty, as you would expect it to be at 1pm in the middle of September. I counted 25 people, and then the Marines doing exercises on the sand when we were leaving. I felt proud, and good- even if I don't feel comfy in a swimsuit. I saw people watching us, maybe it was because we each had a turn getting our legs covered in sand and sculpted into a mermaid tail, or that we were playing a serious game of tag, or us defending our popcorn with a foam hammer from the seagulls. It was awesome, and I was so glad we had that special end of summer day. Part of my plan to spend 3 hours running in the sand was due to our Thursday trip. At 3pm we were on the road and headed South. I forget frequently of our geographical location, but it was unmistakable that we really are in the South just an hour out of town. Last time we took this route out of town it was to avoid the hurricane, and dark.... on the way back we were looking for downed trees.
It was unbelievable to see all the things we had passed by and not even noticed. Cotton growing, like field after field of it. Oh yeah, and a real life cotton gin. We passed what we are pretty sure was tobacco somewhere in either North or South Carolina. We passed a semi truck full of pigs. Also, those salty peanuts G has been wanting. Well we tried a totally Southern thing- boiled peanuts. yuck, sorry. none of us were fans. They were cold, the shells full of salt water, and the peanut was totally mush. The guy who we bought them from was a little surprised by all my questions, but said he loved them so much now he wanted a bag!

We stopped for dinner, at a truck stop. Somehow that took 45 minutes, and then add on a few potty breaks. We got into our hotel and asleep at 2am. Our hotel by the way was a priceline deal, 3 star in the area and we ended up at the Courtyard Marriott on the campus of the Mayo Hospital. Strange to drive around the hospital in the middle of the night, but it ended up being great and fairly kid friendly (mostly the bistro we ate breakfast at which had a tv in our booth that had kid shows on!) The weather was crummy, like such a big thunder storm that our power went out at the hotel in the middle of the night (just quickly, but I was already awake from the rain and thunder, and we were on a middle floor!). The "gator pond" as Clay called every little body of standing water, was almost overflowing when we left the hotel in the morning.
We fell in love, with a house. Of course someone else likes it too- and our realtor didn't find that out before we left town. I think I could get used to over 2800 sq feet, especially only 4 years old. Cross your fingers. We are still looking, and planning a quick trip for Clay one weekend soon to see more houses- ones that hopefully we could close on quickly and move into so we aren't scrambling on a place to live when we move in... oh yeah just about a month! eek.
The drive North was a bit longer, mostly because the kids weren't sleeping for hours of it. We still had a good time, and the kids watched too many movies. We may need to rename our van the "candy carravan" after the amount that was consumed during our trip. Not only did I buy a big bag of licorice and some lemon heads, our realtor gave the kids a bag full of treats to help with the getting in and out of the car constantly. Our realtor was great, especially now that we know what we are looking for and so does she. She took us to her house for bathroom breaks and cold drinks- since many of the houses had no power which means no a/c on. She got Gabby a new littlest pet shop set too (an alligator, hello massive UF gear everywhere!) and a Cars projection flashlight for Elliot.

South of the Border. this place was wild, and crazy, and ridiculous, and fun. We stopped at the reptile farm, to stretch our legs and see some reptiles. Mostly crocodiles (many different kinds) turtles, snakes and then this pool of small alligators.

it was classy

the entire area was flocked on both sides of the streets by random statutes, Pedro being the main character, but animals too (dino, gorilla, chicken, flamingos, etc). They really spare no expense when advertising, you see billboards 200 miles away, and lots of them!

I spotted something up ahead of us and instantly knew what it was! Yes, we saw the "weinermobile" how exciting is that!
Life is continuing to be exciting, and eventful and full. On the way home from work yesterday Clay got in a car accident. He was less than half a mile from home, in our development. A big van was doing some crazy u-turn type move and not looking, he managed to swerve enough to only get his passenger fender crunched. He is fine, they were fine (possibly un-insured) and it got figured out. He gets his car fixed tomorrow.

On another note, E and I had a date today while G was at school. We went to the park and played for almost 2 hours. He found his new superhero cape in my purse and wore it, I used my sweatshirt tied around my neck as a cape. We ran the hills after playing on the toys and were totally awesome superheroes. Tonight when I put him to bed (at 6:45p because he was so tired) I said "good night Super Elliot" and told him what a fun day I had with him. He replied "thank you supper momma!" What a sweet boy.

G had a bit of a rougher day, cranky from sun up to sun down, except for school she says. She does have a school best friend, and they both are so excited to see one another in the morning. They hold hands and walk to their room! of course she would find a(nother) great friend, who lives close to us and has a 2 year old brother.... we are moving. thats it for this novel, off to watch the season premiere of Glee!